University of Washington Students Bemoan Choices for President, Contemplate Not Voting
The State Democratic Party Vows to Keep Trying to Engage Younger Voters
The hustle and bustle of primary season hits the quad at UW. GREGOBAGEL/GETTY IMAGES
On the last day of voting in Washington’s 2024 presidential primaries, the US response to the war in Palestine and a general distrust of the federal government left some University of Washington students contemplating whether they should vote at all.
An increase in the number of disillusioned, college-aged voters nationwide could spell trouble in the upcoming general election for President Joe Biden, whose 2020 campaign partly relied on support from that demographic. Removing their voices from the political process could also hurt the causes younger voters care about, since politicians elected without their vote may not feel beholden to the cohort’s concerns. In light of all that, local Democratic groups vow to keep trying to engage the age group.
According to the Community Engagement and Leadership Education Center at UW, in 2020 about half of the University of Washington's eligible students aged 18 to 29 voted. That share matched the nationalaverage, which represented an 11% increase in participation from 2016.
Once all of Washington’s votes are tallied, we’ll have a better idea of youth participation in this year’s presidential primary, but the mood among some students this political season pointed to dampened spirits.
For Zekeya Idris, a senior at the University of Washington who studies biology, the primary candidates didn’t have the people's interest in mind. She, along with some of her peers, believe Biden and Donald Trump aim only to satisfy the needs of lobbyists as opposed to the citizens they represent.
“[National] politics is just a bunch of lies, tricks, and schemes,” Idris said. “When they give their speeches, it all sounds nice, but when it comes to making policies, making changes, or supporting individual communities, then they turn a blind eye.”
Idris said she was heavily involved in the previous presidential election, but her passion for civic participation cooled after seeing the Biden Administration's response to Gaza.
“Do you see what’s happening in the world right now,” Idris said. “Anyone with a heart, anyone with an actual brain, or any ounce of empathy could never do any of the things that political leaders are doing.”
Idris said voting for either of the two candidates represented a dead end. She’s not planning to vote in the primaries or in this upcoming presidential election, and she has removed herself from national political participation. In her eyes, voting in local elections for officials that are active in their community will make more of a difference, so she’ll do that instead.
UW student Jamila Abdala was also not registered or planning to vote in the primary election.
“My relationship with American politics… I don’t really have a relationship,” Abdala said. “I kinda see whatever’s posted on social media here and there.”
Washington’s primary elections fell on finals week for UW students, resulting in many neglecting their ballots for studies.
Huy Mai, a 20-year-old engineering student, was too busy to vote in the primaries but is planning on voting at the upcoming presidential elections; he is unaware where his vote lies currently.
Zareenah Umboh, a 20-year-old pre-nursing student, having a little fun at the HUB. SN
Zareenah Umboh, a 20-year-old pre-nursing student, forgot to vote in the primaries but plans to cast her ballot for Biden come November. She believes our government needs to change its priorities to match those of young adults. “Even though our voices are getting stronger, nothing is happening. [The government] just doesn't listen. [They are] not in favor of the youth.”
While not registered currently, Meemi Asumciom, an 18-year-old psychology student, is planning on voting for Biden in November, but she’s not in love with her choices. “Right now I am just really upset at the government. [The war in the middle east] is hard to look at and not be fazed. After Roe v. Wade, I became far removed from [American politics]. Now they're doing a TikTok ban… don't you have better things to worry about?”
In an attempt to reach despondent or disconnected voters, national and local advocates launched a campaign urging voters to fill in the “uncommitted delegates” bubble on their ballot to pressure Biden to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The protest vote aimed to send the message that we won’t be complicit in genocide.
Sophia Palmer, a law, societies, and justice student, planned on voting uncommitted at the primaries.
In the upcoming presidential elections, Palmer feels more aligned with the ideals of the Democratic Party, and she believes Biden is the lesser of two evils.
International students at UW make up 16% of the student body, and although that excludes them from participation, it doesn't exclude their convictions.
Alice Kim, a 19-year-old cinema and media studies student, is a Korean citizen, so she was unable to vote. Still, she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “I really don’t like Biden or Trump. Even before the peak of Israel and Palestine, I’ve always seen America side with Israel. It never changed, it just confirmed it.”
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, UW students were either voting reluctantly or not at all. That ennui seemed to be reflected in the primary totals.
Biden is currently winning Washington’s Democratic primary with 84% of the vote share. The uncommitted delegates option has amassed about 9%, or 74,500 votes, which isn’t enough for the party to send delegates to the national convention.
According to an analysis from political consultant Ben Anderstone, in Seattle the uncommitted vote was the highest in diverse neighborhoods populated by young adults: 27% from Rainier Vista, 26% from Yesler Terrace, and 25% from Broadway.
According to Stephen Reed, the director of communications at the Washington State Democratic Party, uncommitted delegates do not pose a threat to Democrats.
“We appreciate that people have different opinions on foreign policy. [Those who voted] uncommitted are welcome to our delegation,” Reed said. “We are the only party that is offering voices in Washington state to speak freely on the war in the Middle East. We are focused on listening to those people and understanding both Muslim and Jewish voices.”
Reed argued that Democrats are working toward lasting peace in Gaza, but the overwhelming majority of the pro-Palestinian movement remain unconvinced of their efforts. That skepticism may be reflected in the latest polling, which shows the President currently 30 points under water with 18 to 39-year-olds.
But amidst the primary elections this week, 15 youth voter groups did endorse Biden’s campaign; an unprecedented number of youth organizations backing a presidential ticket, according to Students for Biden-Harris.
Reed believes college-aged voters represent untapped potential and should get involved right when they turn 18. “Youth voters are more important than ever. The seasoned election officials don't have the same viewpoint as youth voters. It's important [the youth] get engaged to change the process.”
Chairman Shasti Conrad was invited to speak at Federal Way High School later this week during a get-out-the-vote assembly, a nonpartisan event to get people to vote and have their voices be heard, and Reed said the party wants to do more of that sort of thing to increase engagement.
While a push for civic engagement seems advantageous, the number of Palestinains that are suffering with the support of US tax dollars is only growing. With the uncommitted delegate protest vote falling short, young voters may see a threat to stay home in November as the only thing that will make President Biden move their way.
Reach reporter Saida Nor at X: @saidaxnor
https://www.thestranger.com/elections-2024/2024/03/15/79427944/university-of-washington-students-bemoan-choices-for-president-contemplate-not-voting
“Goodbye Julia” Uses Film Artistry To Provide Context To Ongoing Wars In Sudan
May 24, 2024
In this scene from “Goodbye Julia,” screened at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center on the last day of a four-day film festival, Sudanese protagonist Mona, sitting in a pink robe on the left, tells Julia why she decided to retire from her singing career. Julia is a southern Christian Sudanese woman who was hired as a maid for Mona, an Arab northerner. (Photo provided by the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute)
By Saida Nor, The Seattle Medium
Sudanese Arabic dialect rang throughout the Langston Hughes halls as the crowd waited for the film “Goodbye Julia” to begin. Whispered giggles and shuffling feet hushed as the lights in the theater dimmed.
The first Sudanese film from Sudan ever to be screened at the renowned Cannes Film Festival headlined as the final film at the Seattle Black Film Festival on Sunday, April 28.
“Goodbye Julia” is a narrative drama by Mohamed Kordofani, a Sudanese filmmaker and screenwriter, that highlights the ethnic and religious division of Arab Muslim northerners and African Christian southerners after the Second Sudanese Civil War that took place from 1983 to 2005. The film is in Arabic with English subtitles and takes place right before the 2011 secession of South Sudan.
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Isabella Price, manager of film programs at Langston Hughes, says that “Goodbye Julia” was on her radar and was pleasantly surprised when she saw it come through submissions. Every year, the festival opens up submissions for people to send in the films they’ve been working on.
Out of 180 submissions received, only 50 were picked. “Goodbye Julia” was on the top of everyone’s list. None of the filmmakers could attend, so the curators decided to place “Goodbye Julia” as the closing film so it could still have a spotlight.
“As a Black arts organization, we were thinking about what we could do for South Sudan,” Price said. “The struggle is interconnected. There is nothing that happens in a silo. There is no struggle that happens with one group of Black people that isn’t connected to Black people around the world.”
Issues that are a result of colonialism and western influence impact the diaspora of Black people as a whole. Price said this film brought a wider audience to these issues and highlighted both internal and external conflicts embedded throughout.
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“Goodbye Julia” follows protagonist Mona, an upper-class northern Sudanese retired singer in Khartoum, who accidentally runs over a southern child and drives away. When the child’s father chases her, Mona calls her husband for help, resulting in the death of the child’s father by her husband’s hands.
Riddled with guilt about covering up a murder, Mona takes in the man’s widow and child in an effort to atone, but the two don’t know her role in the tragedy.
Throughout the film, shadows of the turmoil between Sudanese northerners and southerners reach Mona’s home, leaving her to confront the weight of her choices.
In the opening scenes for “Goodbye Julia,” Sudanese southerners are rioting and looting in the streets in a display of anger at the corrupt and repressive government.
Fatima Hamid, a Sudanese American attending the film festival, was born and raised in Sudan. Her eyes slowly began to well up, her hands clasped under her face, as she watched the movie and recalled images from her past.
“I remember in the back of my house watching people rioting and breaking things. That part was so accurate,” Hamid said. “I was crying in the middle of the film. The decor, the markets, the people, the faces… reminded me of home.”
For many Sudanese Americans who fled their home because of the war, the only frame of reference they have to their motherland is their memories. Due to the current war in Sudan, Hamid can’t go back home to visit.
“Goodbye Julia” offers a mirror to recollections that might’ve been lost and creates a sense of intimacy.
Sudan’s North-South conflict began with the Turko-Egyptian takeover in the early 19th century. Sudan is predominantly Muslim and Arab, whereas South Sudan is majority Christian and African. This Turko-Egyptian conquest led Arab Muslims to push their culture and religion onto African Christians, which sparked resistance.
The resistance deepened when the British administratively separated the regions. A civil war broke out in Sudan after they gained independence from British and Egyptian rule, and while there have been cycles of peace, underlying issues like racism and classism are still prevalent, as shown in the film.
Selam Yonas said films make learning about history more interesting and personal. She stumbled upon the film festival, happening in her neighborhood, right in time to catch the screening of “Goodbye Julia.”
“You can read about a war but you don’t know how that affects people interpersonally,” Yonas said. This film “provides people with more context and shows the cycles of war.”
A key turning point in “Goodbye Julia” is a conversation about the difference between reconciliation and forgiveness between Julia, the widow Mona took in, and a leader of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement.
“You can’t have reconciliation if you don’t admit the wrong you’ve done to the people you’ve done it to,” said Safia Hassan, who was there to watch the film. She said for the Sudanese: “There’s not a state right now where people are reconciling. You just forgive and move on.”
Hassan believes “Goodbye Julia” shows the artistic strength of film, a medium gentle enough to make dark history and uncomfortable truths accessible to audiences.
Fatima Ibrahim, a friend of Hassans’, recalls watching some of her favorite Sudanese YouTubers fall into discomfort when asked if they spoke Arabic. Depicted throughout the film are the various ways the Arabic language can be used to perpetuate classism in Sudan.
After watching “Goodbye Julia,” Ibrahim said she better understood the many factors of trauma that Sudanese people face due to the heavy influence of classism and racism. In particular, she was reminded of the discourse on Black Twitter about the Arabification of Africa. “I was like, ‘Oh, so this is what they’re talking about.’”
People’s unacknowledged biases and racism is omnipresent in the strife between Arabs and Africans in Sudan. We see this come into fruition with Mona’s unrecognized dislike and racism toward southerners.
“I love that the film, and I think it’s because it’s by a Black East African director,–didn’t demonize anyone,” Safia Hassan said. “It just showed the story, both types of lives and the flaws in both.”
“Goodbye Julia” has been shown exclusively at more than 30 film festivals worldwide and has recently reached their one-year milestone.
“Lupita Nyong’o is one of the producers on the film and was here in Seattle when somebody had run into her and told her that her movie was playing here,” Price said. “I feel good about that.”
https://seattlemedium.com/goodbye-julia-uses-film-artistry-to-provide-context-to-ongoing-wars-in-sudan/
After 65 years, U-District staple Northlake Tavern & Pizza House closes
By Saida Nor
Feb 8, 2023
Saida Nor
Every three weeks, David Kersten and his wife visited Northlake Tavern & Pizza House — though a brisk afternoon in late January would be their last.
A sharp wind whisked through the air as the crowd of people in line squeezed their coats closer to their bodies, waiting to be seated. Running back and forth from their cars seeking the warmth of heaters, customers rushed to call their friends to hurry and get in line. Seen from blocks down the road, the herd of people outside only grew as time passed.
Kersten quickly joined the back of the line, as extra stragglers rounded the corner behind him. He stood on the tips of his toes, peering over the heads of the 30 people in front of him, as he texted his wife with updates. He was first introduced to Northlake by his frat brothers in the mid ‘70s, and he’s been coming ever since.
Saida Nor
“The first date I had with my wife, we saw a movie and then came here,” Kersten said. “We’ve been married now for 36 years.”
When his wife saw that the tavern was closing Jan. 31, Kersten knew he had to rush down to get a couple boxes of pizza.
Due to health reasons, Northlake Tavern & Pizza House owner Abdoullah Abdoullah, a UW alum, is retiring after 42 years, along with the business. During his time at UW, he worked as a cook at Northlake while he studied information technology. Six years ago, he came back and bought the place.
“We’ve been here since 1954,” Jessica Scott, Abdoullah’s assistant, said. “We have folks come in that are UW frat brothers in their seventies. Northlake has its own brand. It cannot be duplicated.”
Customers would quickly notice when the recipes were adjusted, even slightly. Around six months ago, Kersten reflexively noticed that the crust was not as thick. After all, when you’ve been eating the same pizza for years, any and all changes become hyper-apparent.
“I've been eating their pizza for 50 years,” Kersten said. “Pizza with meat, mushrooms, and olives.”
Kersten and his wife have even developed their own method to get the most out of every box. They buy the large combo, square it up into three packages of four pieces each, and freeze it. They love Northlake’s pizza so much that they ration it out across three days.
After more than an hourlong wait, over 35 people were turned away, unable to enjoy their favorite pizza one last time.
Shouts rang out as the crowd dwindled. Some shuffled to their cars while others stayed in line, despite warnings from the waitress.
Rob and Darby Carlisle were the last two folks let inside.
Around 15 people were still waiting inside to get seated. Newspaper clippings tagged the hallway, displaying all the UW alum events that had taken place over the years.
The tables were lined with red and white checkered tablecloths, with a projector in the center of the room playing an NFL game and comic art covering the walls. The people in line had a laugh over the comics and old event pictures one final time.
Saida Nor
“I’ve been coming here for 30 years,” Darby Carlisle said. “The first house I lived in was just around the corner. The pizza is really unique. Each pizza weighs like seven pounds.”
“We get a medium half-Maui, half-logger with fresh tomatoes,” Rob Carlisle said. “[We] pretty much stick to that order for the last 25 years.”
The couple got in line just after opening at 11 a.m., and though they only grabbed a pizza from Northlake once every three months, they’ve never had to wait for their meal before.
“The last time we were here, the couple sitting next to us drove all the way from Kent,” Rob said. “They hadn’t been back to Northlake for a quarter of a century, but, miraculously, two weeks before the announcement of the closing, they wanted to come.”
While Northlake Tavern & Pizza House is closing down, Big Mario’s Pizza will be taking its place.
Big Mario’s Pizza sells their New York-style pies hand-tossed and by the slice. They primarily sell thin crust pizza — quite opposite of Northlake’s specialty.
“It’s like taking your BMW to a VM shop,” Scott said. “It’s going to be different. Hopefully, guests will return.”
While Kersten is on the hunt for a new pizza shop and is open to trying Big Mario’s, other longtime customers aren’t as keen.
“Nope, I’m not coming back,” Darby Carlisle said. “This is the last hurrah.”
https://www.dailyuw.com/arts_and_culture/community/after-65-years-u-district-staple-northlake-tavern-pizza-house-closes/article_fd8e7ee8-a775-11ed-92e8-17871f565cd4.html